I'd like for us to read tonight
from Deuteronomy, chapter 20. Deuteronomy, chapter 20. We're
going to be considering the subject of fainting
tonight. Oftentimes, in God's Word, He
admonishes us to faint not. and this is one of those passages
Deuteronomy chapter 20 verse 1 when thou goest out to battle
against thine enemies have any enemies? the worst ones the one that you
live with isn't it? and seest horses and chariots
and a people more than thou be not afraid of them For the Lord
thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. The Lord has delivered you from
the taskmasters of the law, and the enemy has no power. And it shall be when you are
come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and
speak unto the people. That's our hope, isn't it? that
our high priest would speak to us in the midst of our battles. And shall say unto them, Hear,
O Israel, you approach this day in the battle against your enemies,
let not your heart faint. Fear not, do not tremble, neither
be you terrified because of them. Why? For the Lord your God is
he that goeth with you to fight for you, against your enemies,
and to save you. The battle's not yours, it's
the Lord's. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, so hopeful
that you would speak to our faint hearts and give to us, Lord,
the faith to believe your promises and to find our strength in Christ. We pray that you would turn our
hearts to him and that we would find him to be our conqueror,
our victor, the one who has defeated all our enemies. Lord, that the
hope we just sang about would be real to our hearts, that we
would be comforted by Christ, that we would be assured of your
mercies and your grace toward us for his sake. Father, we pray for Terry and
we thank you for the success of the surgery that she had.
And Lord, we ask that you would comfort her. We pray that you
would calm her heart. We pray, Lord, that you would
give her your peace and that you would give her the strength
to recover from this surgery. We pray for Mary Ann, and for
Rich, and Jerry, and ask Lord that you would give them the
grace that they need to tend to Terry in these days. We ask
it in Christ's name. Amen. It's been such a blessing to
have Daryl and Joyce and Bob and Carla with us these past
four or five weeks. I hate to see them leave, but
tonight's their last night for a while with us. We get to go
back to cold country. We're so blessed that you all
have been here with us. I got to thinking about this
subject of fainting from our text in 2 Corinthians chapter
4, if you'd like to turn with me there in your Bibles. And I was intrigued by the subject, having experienced many, many
times in my life fainting. Just part of my makeup. You have
low blood pressure and low blood sugar together, it just happens. And it's something that I've
experienced all my life from a teenager. And the similarities between
fainting physically and fainting spiritually. You have your Bibles open to
2nd Corinthians chapter 4. I have found myself to be faint
spiritually many, many more times than I have found myself to be
faint physically. And I'm so thankful for our Lord's
words on this subject. because it's of great comfort
and encouragement to our hearts those who experience this weakness
of fainting in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 verse 1 therefore seeing
we have this ministry as we have received mercy we faint not and
then down in verse 16 of the same chapter, for which
cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the
inward man is renewed day by day. If you've ever experienced
fainting, you'll know what some of the symptoms are. starts with
a lightheadedness, you get blurred vision, slurred speech, confused
thought, an inability to stand, and a need to quickly sit down. And you know that's really kind
of what happens when we get faint spiritually, isn't it? We get
confused in our thinking. Our vision of Christ gets blurry. We don't speak so clearly. And we're in need of finding
our rest in Christ. Fainting in and of itself is
not really threatening physically. For most folks, it's not been
for me. the only problem with fainting is that if you don't
recognize the symptoms and you lose consciousness in a standing
up position you can hurt yourself very severely when you fall and
so my hope tonight is that that the Lord will help us to be aware
of our spiritual condition people that aren't I was talking to Marvin Sonnecker, the other day,
and he fainted twice, never fainted before in his life. And just
a couple of weeks ago, he had a couple, and he fell. I mean,
he didn't know what was coming on. He didn't know the symptoms.
He wasn't aware of them. And he just fell out. Fortunately,
he didn't hurt himself. But if you're aware of your body,
and you know the symptoms, you know what's happening, then you
can control it. And if you're aware of your spiritual
state if you've got some spiritual sensitivity then you can become
aware of the symptoms of becoming spiritually faint lest you fall
and hurt yourself severely now the cause for fainting physically
and spiritually is the same it's a lack of blood flow to the brain
that's the cause of fainting And when we get our eyes off
of Christ and we're not rejoicing in the shed blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ and we have not our thoughts fixed on Him, we
can become faint, can't we? Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
40. Look at verse 28. Hast thou not known,
hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the
creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? He's never had that weakness,
has he? He's never had that problem, spiritually or physically. He
fainteth not. There is no searching of his
understanding. He's not like us. He's holy. He's other than we are. We find
ourselves faint so often, but not so with him. He giveth power
to the faint. Aren't you glad? And to them that have no might,
he increaseth strength. Even the youth shall faint and
be weary, and the young man shall utterly fall. But they that wait
upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up
with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint."
Oh, if the Lord gives us the grace to recognize the symptoms
of becoming spiritually faint and through that acknowledgement
gives us the grace to call upon Him, to rest in Him, to wait
on Him, to rely upon His strength. He'll keep us from falling. He'll
return the flow of blood to our hearts and enable us to be strong
in Christ. David said in Psalm 27 verse
13, he said, I have fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness
of the Lord in the land of the living. Why do we come here? This is the land of the living,
isn't it? The world's dead. The people of this world have
no spiritual life. And we come here because we are
faint. Because we are weak. Because
we are afraid of falling. And we're in need of his strength. David said, I had fainted until
I came in to the land of the living. And then my strength
was renewed. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
12. Aren't you thankful for Hebrews
chapter 11? And how the Lord speaks of those saints of old
in Hebrews chapter 11. He never mentions the times when
they fainted. He never mentions the times when
they were weak. He never mentions the times when
they faltered. Hebrews chapter 11 represents
or is a picture of these believers as they were seen by God in Christ. And that's really how they are.
And that's how we are. And so with all the stumbling
and all the fainting and all the weak of heart and all the
dizziness and the blurred vision and the need to sit down and
rest, they're represented in Hebrews chapter 11 as men and
women who fainted not. And that's how God sees his people.
Look at chapter 12. Wherefore, in light of this,
seeing we also are compassed with so great a cloud of witnesses. Oh, we have the encouragement
of knowing that that these troubles are what every believer has ever
experienced and yet these are the witnesses who gave witness
to Christ and his strength and were found not having their own
righteousness but they were found in Christ having his righteousness. Wherefore we are compassed about
with so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight
and the sin that doth so easily beset us. What is the sin that
doth so easily beset us? Somebody reads this, they say,
well, one person's got this weakness and another person's got that
weakness. No, unbelief is the cause of all sin. It's the seedbed
from which all sin grows. It's the fountain of all unbelief. All sin is founded in unbelief. That's the sin that does so easily
beset us. It's taken our eyes off of Christ,
isn't it? And so he says, lay aside that
sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience
the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus. looking to
Christ, setting our affections on Him, believing that He is
our righteousness, and that He is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes, that God's pleased with Him, and that
our acceptance before God is in Him. We're accepted in the
Beloved. We're just like these saints that are mentioned in
Hebrews chapter 11, aren't we? we're just like they were in
our fleshly existence in this world and all the problems that
unbelief brings into our lives and we're just like them in Christ
perfect before God looking unto Jesus the author the one who
who who devised the the purpose of salvation for God's people
the one who established the covenant of grace before the world began
the one who offered himself to the father in that covenant as
the lamb that was slain before the foundations of the world
the Lord Jesus Christ the author and the finisher of our faith
He's the one that keeps us from falling, presents us faultless
before the throne of God. He's the one that continues to
enable us to acknowledge and recognize our symptoms of being
faint and keeps bringing us back to himself, doesn't he? One thing
I know about a child of God, they won't fall away. They can't. He won't let them. He just keeps
bringing them back to himself. And so he says, looking unto
Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. All the Lord in perfect obedience
to the Father was rewarded for his work by being restored to
his rightful place at the right hand of the majesty on high.
The word of God did not return to God void, did he? He returned
with the names of those for whom he lived and died, and he's seated
as our advocate with the Father right now. So that's who we look
to. Our hope in our faint condition
is to look to Christ. And when we do that, what happens?
For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners
against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds. Oh, if the Lord gives us the
grace to look to Christ, we'll avoid the fall that fainting
would bring. Now, one of the things I want
you to see, the first thing I want you to see, I guess, before we
look at my main points, is that our Lord has compassion toward
the faint. He has compassion towards the
faint. Turn with me to Matthew chapter 15. He remembers that we're made
of dust. Aren't you glad? He knows our
weaknesses. He knows how faint we are. He
knows how prone we are to wonder. He knows how easy it is for us
to take our eyes off of Christ. And for the blood to not flow
to our minds as it ought to. And how blurred things become
for us. And how confused we get. He understands
that. And He's compassionate towards
us. Look at Matthew chapter 15. At verse 32, then Jesus called
his disciples unto him and said, I have compassion on the multitude,
because they continue with me now three days and have nothing
to eat. And I will not send them away
fasting, lest they faint in the way. These are my children. They've been listening to me.
They've been following me. They've left everything for me.
And they're hungry. They need to be fed. And I have
compassion on them, lest they faint in the way. Look at Matthew
chapter 9 at verse 35. And Jesus went about all the
cities and villages teaching in the synagogues and preaching
the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every
disease among the people. He's still doing that, isn't
he? He's still doing that. He's still healing our diseases
and our sicknesses. But when he saw the multitude,
he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted
and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. Do you find yourself faint of
heart? Do you find yourself having blurred
vision? You don't see things clearly.
You get confused. You can't speak right. You're
weak. You need a sitting down. The
Lord is compassionate towards them. You see, the unbeliever
would say, no, that's not my problem. I can take care of things
myself, and the problem is they just fall headlong into destruction,
don't they? And don't even know it. Don't
even know it. Well, four points very quickly
in the New Testament about fainting. The first one we've already read
in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, where the Lord speaks, where Paul speaks
of not fainting in the ministry of the gospel. Turn back with
me there to second Corinthians chapter four. Therefore, seeing we have this
ministry as we have received mercy, God's given us a ministry. What is the ministry? It's the
declaration of the gospel. It's heralding the truth about
who Christ is and about what he's done to save his people. About who he is now. as their
advocate before the father, their righteousness. So we're, we're,
that's our ministry. That's our, that's our, that's
our calling. And we've received it by mercy
only by the grace of God. Would we, would we have any understanding
of this or any ability to, uh, to believe it or to declare it? And he says, seeing that we've
received this ministry by God's mercy, we faint not. how many
times we get weak in the ministry of the gospel how many times
we we we feel like we feel like quitting and feel like you know
there's just there's nothing happening there's nothing You
know you get you get discouraged How many times you and I have
been faint in our? Opportunities to declare the
ministry of the gospel to people we should have spoken to and
we didn't why? Because we were faint Look at verse verse 16 for which
cause we faint not But though our outward man perish Yet the
inward man is renewed day by day." Oh, this outer man, he's
getting weaker and weaker, isn't he? He's falling apart. I got
duly humbled today. I heard that Don Fortner had asked
his 12-year-old grandson who it was that preached for them
in Lexington the Sunday before last. and Don Fortner's grandson
said, Poppy I don't know he was just an old man with gray hair. Well that's, that's me. Oh the outward man perisheth
doesn't he? But the inward man, the inward
man. And the more we grow in grace
and the knowledge of Christ, the more we become aware of the
symptoms of spiritual fainting. And the more we see our need
to rest in Christ, to sit down and to give attention to the
ministry of the gospel, the person of Christ, and to rejoice in
that shed blood, which is a covering for all our sin. He's our hope,
isn't he? Do you faint? Do you faint? I hope you never have to deal
with physical fainting, but if you're a believer, I know you
faint. Turn with me to Luke chapter
18. Prayer for the child of God. is to the soul what breathing
is to the body and how we're admonished of the Lord to pray
without ceasing to seek his face to be to pray with importunity to not
quit to not fail and yet how shameful we are in how little
we pray as we ought. And here the Lord says in Luke
chapter 18 verse 1, and he spake a parable unto them to this end,
that men ought always to pray and not to faint. Lord, I've become so faint. He goes on to tell the parable
of the unjust judge and the widow. And in the parable, the Lord
says that the judge would not listen to the widow's request,
and yet because she was persistent, because she wouldn't quit asking,
he finally gave in. He said, this judge, though he
feared not God and regarded not men, yet because of the importunity
of this widow, he went ahead and gave her what she asked for.
Now is the Lord comparing himself to that judge? No, he's contrasting
himself to that judge. He said if a judge will do that
because of the importunity of a widow, how much more will your
Heavenly Father who loves you respond to you when you pray?
Oh Lord set my heart to pray. Cause me Lord to pour out my
soul to you in prayer and to not faint in prayer. You know,
we become so independent, don't we? Somebody said, well, there's
nothing left to do but pray. The only time you really ever
pray is when there's nothing else to do but pray. If there's
anything else to do, you're going to do it. Prayer is always a
last resort. And how situations demand us
to see how they really are desperate and how we do need to pray more
and faint not. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
3. A lot of references to fainting
in the scriptures aren't there? Ephesians Chapter 3, verse 12, in whom, Jesus Christ our Lord,
in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the
faith of Him. That's our boldness, isn't it?
Our boldness is not in the fact that, well, we're stalwart, we
don't faint, we've got great faith, we can just rush into
the presence of God. No, our boldness and confidence
is by the faith of Him. He was faithful to the Father.
What was the last thing the Lord Jesus Christ said on Calvary's
cross? To us was, it is finished. But that wasn't the last thing
he said. The last thing he said was to the Father, wasn't it?
Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And to his dying breath,
he was faithful to God. He believed God. with all of
his heart all of his mind and all of his soul and his faithfulness
is our access and it is our boldness Lord I don't know about my faith
but I do know your faith was perfect and if I've got any access
into the presence of God it will be by the faith of Jesus Christ wherefore I desire that you faint
not at my tribulations." Oh, so many tribulations, aren't
there? So many adversities, so many adversaries. Not the least
of which is our own easily besetting sin of unbelief. But we wrestle
against principalities too, don't we? We've got spiritual powers
fighting against us. We've got a world that we live
in that is contrary to everything we believe, everything we love. This world is at enmity with
God. It hates God. And here we are,
sojourners and strangers in a foreign land. There's lots of tribulations,
aren't there? Think not. at my tribulations
for you which is your glory now Paul speaking of his own tribulations
but this is true of all of our tribulations it's it's it's our
glory that we would find great hope and comfort in knowing that
God is working all things together for good for them who love him
and those that are the called according to his purpose for which cause I bow my knees
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family
in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according
to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with the might
by his Spirit. Lord, you see the symptoms of
being faint. Remember, if you've ever experienced
them, you know what they are. You experience it a lot. You
know when they're starting. You know what they... You get
dizzy. You get blurred vision. You can't
think straight. You can't speak right. You can't
stand up. And this is where... Lord, I
need Your strength. I need Your Spirit. To be strengthened
with might by His Spirit in the inner man. You know, the outer
man is perishing, but the inner man is renewed day by day. He's becoming stronger in his
trust in Christ. He's not becoming stronger in
his ability, he's becoming more confident in Christ as he becomes
more aware of his own inability. His strength is made perfect
in my weakness. So the believer who's growing
in grace is becoming weaker and weaker and more and more sinful
and more and more dependent upon Christ. that Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and the length and the depth and the height, and to know the
love of Christ, oh, to know His love, to experience His love. Remember, He has compassion towards
the faint. He saw the multitude. and he
had compassion upon them they were like sheep without a shepherd
they were without food they were in need of him to care for them which passeth knowledge Lord
why would you love me? why would you love me? Jacob I loved Esau I hated I
can understand that better than I can understand how God would
love me that he might be filled with
all the fullness of God. Now to him, to God, who is able,
his ability is only found in our inability. That's it. Now God, who is able to do exceedingly
abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the
power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by
Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. See, here
we are 2,000 years removed from when these words were penned,
and it's exactly the same today as it was then. Nothing's changed.
Nothing's changed. Your life, your experience, your
faintheartedness, your struggle with prayer, your temptations,
your tribulations, your thoughts sometimes of just giving up on
everything, it hadn't changed. 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. Verse 11, For we hear that there are some
which walk among you disorderly, working not at all but are busybodies,
troublemakers, rabble-rousers, stirring up division and dissension
in the church which God hates. Now them that are such we command
and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ that with quietness they
work and eat their own bread." Now where does it stop this?
This divisive talk within the body of Christ and tend to their
own responsibilities. But ye brethren Be not faint. That's the word there. Be not
weary in well doing. Don't be faint. Just keep doing
it. So I'm tired of being on the
giving end all the time. Faint not. It's more blessed
to give than it is to receive. Just keep giving. He said, don't
be faint in well-doing. This is pleasing to God. And if we do it, you know, if
we're doing it for the approval of men or for the reward that
comes from men, then we'll faint, we'll give up. But if we do what
we do as unto the Lord, do you suppose there's anything that
any of his children have ever done to his glory that he didn't
recognize? that he wasn't pleased with,
he didn't take note of? Never. Never. Turn with me to Galatians chapter
6. Verse 9. Let us not faint. in well-doing let us not be weary
in well-doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not as we have therefore opportunity
as we have therefore opportunity let us do good unto all men especially
those who are of the household of faith all that the Lord would as faint as we get sometimes
in doing things for others, that God would cause us to do it with
joy and give us the grace to not be faint. to not be faint
in the ministry of the gospel, to not be faint in prayer, to
not be faint in tribulation, to not be faint in well-doing,
to wait upon the Lord and have Him renew our strength, that
we be mounted up with wings as eagles and run and not be weary,
walk and not faint, not faint. We naturally get faint. There's
no question about that. But if the Lord gives us grace
to recognize the symptoms of being spiritually faint, then
we'll sit down and we'll rely upon him to return the blood
to our minds and give us the strength of Christ to be faithful
to the end. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we're so
very thankful that you are God of mercy and
compassion towards those who are faint of heart. We ask, Lord,
that you would give us the grace to recognize our own weaknesses,
to quit relying and depending upon our own strength so often,
to rest in Christ and to rejoice in what his shed blood has done,
putting away our sin and making us perfect in your sight. Lord, cause us to not faint till
we fall. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.